The Best Self-Help is Free: Methods of Effective Persuasion

Chapter 18

The "never deny" part of Aquinas's maxim is vitally important, as the greatest manmade obstacles to your advancement will usually be phrased in the form of some kind of categorical denial. "Individualism is bad; it leads to a dog-eat-dog attitude and unconcern for others." "Capitalism is bad; it damages the environment and leads to wanton consumerism." "Materialism is bad; it ignores the 'higher' spiritual dimension of life." "Atheism is bad; without God, how can one possibly act morally?" These assertions, uttered viscerally and unthinkingly by millions, have possibly been the most damaging ideas of all time - because they have been applied without any kind of qualification, exception, or distinction. Other people will try to use these one-liners to prevent you from engaging in some particular acts on the grounds that those acts are instantiations of the more general categorically bad principle. The best approach for you in those cases is to say, "Not so fast. Let us consider the issue more deeply and make the relevant distinctions as to what is desirable and undesirable here."

Even categorically asserting that "All socialism is bad," with sound free-market economics and pro-liberty politics given as the justification, might not be the best approach. After all, some socialisms are more tolerable and more humane than others. Sweden's socialist government has not engaged in mass murder, but North Korea's socialist government has. If there is any way to turn North Korea into a socialist country on the Swedish model, surely this ought to be welcomed by any advocates of freedom. Likewise, Raul Castro, the new socialist dictator of Cuba, has recently undertaken reforms to permit his subjects to own computers and cell phones. Surely, Raul's socialist regime is somewhat superior to that of his brother Fidel. Making these distinctions and actually delving into an issue instead of issuing blanket condemnations will not only make you less susceptible to attacks; it will also enable you to make some genuine intellectual progress with those who might otherwise have been completely at odds with you.

Stay on target. If you want to persuade another person of a particular point, make sure that you are not tempted to grab the bait when the other person attempts to redirect the conversation toward some tangential issue that might seem to reinforce an opposition to your proposal but is actually only marginally relevant to it, if it all. Often, a minor point of factual or ideological disagreement will arise in the course of conversation. This point can most often simply be glossed over without detracting from your initial aim - unless you choose to delve into it, in which case it might lead to hours of wasted time and built-up antagonism. The best approach to such tangential issues is to show not that you are right on them particularly, but that that they are unimportant to the matter at hand.